Before the Note
by XOXOXLawlietLoveXOXOX
Summary: In 2000, before the Kira case, L had no cases to work on for a while so he decided to visit his future successors, Near and Mello. At the time, L is 21, Near is 9, and Mello is 11. Mello is desperate to impress L, but can he do that with Near around?
1. DAY 1

This is my first fanfic, so please don't be too hard on me. I can take criticism, but be nice, please. Anyway, this is supposed to be based on what L, Mello, and Near's lives were like before the Kirra case when L came to visit the boys over the summer.

**Day One**

It was summer in 2000, three years before the Kira case. L was 21 at the time and had finished his last case nearly two years previous. It had seemed that no one needed him, not that he disliked not having to work, but his brain was relaxing too much for his liking. He believed a person's mind had to work constantly to keep it in perfect shape, but there was nothing going on around him to make him think hard enough to exercise his brain as much as it was used to. He'd even cut back on sweets slightly seeing as he wasn't burning calories through extreme mental work.

That's when Watari suggested that he visit Mello and Near for a while, see how his future successors were doing, check their progress. He considered this briefly before shrugging. He had nothing better to do, and maybe spending some time with the boys for a while would keep him from becoming bored until his next case.

A week later, he was back at Whammy's House, where he had grown up. He wasn't surprised when he saw the two boys. They were the same as the last time he'd seen them, only older and larger than before. Near was building a domino city, hundreds of the black-spotted white rectangles stacked to form buildings and monuments. He'd already finished Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower, and he was now trying to finish his miniature Great Wall of China. Mello simply paced through the room, bored with the overwhelming silence in the large building.

"Mello, Near," L greeted, seeing that only Near had noticed him walk inside. Near nodded in his direction, muttering, "L…." He didn't even bother looking up from the domino wall. Mello on the other hand was much more enthusiastic when he saw L. He hadn't seen him in so long, he had begun to think he wasn't coming back to see them again. He smiled slightly and tried to keep his voice calm as he said, "Hello L, it's been some time."

"Exactly nine months, sixteen days, and three and a half-no, thirty-one minutes," Near said quietly in his normal even, monotone voice. Mello gritted his teeth. He hated how Near was always showing off. It was already a no-brainer that _he _was going to be the one to take L's place after he died; did he really need to do this to make him feel any worse?

L nodded to Near, set down his suitcase, and walked to him, kneeling beside the now-nine-year-old Thai boy, who still hadn't looked up from the small white rectangles he was building with. He reached forward and took a domino from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, watching it fall. Near stopped moving and watched it too, a blank expression on his face.

Mello gasped and barely caught himself before he said anything. He knew L was up to something, and he didn't want to seem naïve or dumb in front of him, so he kept quiet and watched. Near stared down at the crumbled tower, glanced at L, looked back down, and picked up each domino, reassembling them. He built with his right hand and twisted the index finger of his left hand in his hair, curling his hair around the finger, letting it fall, and wrapping around his finger again until it pulled while his large innocence-barren eyes followed the dominos.

"Keeping calm in situations of disappointment and frustration," L murmured. "That's a good quality to have when doing detective work…." He looked at Mello now, his large grey eyes locking on the young boy. Mello tried his best not to squirm in fear of seeming unworthy of being in L's presence. "Mello, answer me truthfully. Do you think you could do what he just did?" Mello paused, heart beating rapidly in his chest.

"Yes," he answered in the calmest voice he could muster. "I could." L stood and walked toward him, which made Mello nervous. What was he about to do to test him? L looked down at the boy, eyes burning into his soul. _No, no, no!_ Mello thought. _He knows I lied! I know he does….._

But L didn't test him. Instead, he patted Mello's head, said goodnight, and walked upstairs. Near looked back at Mello and said, "He knows you lied. I could tell by the look in his eyes, the way he swallowed, an how he moved his feet after you said that."

"Shut up," Mello hissed, walking away to find something to do until it was time to go to bed.


	2. DAY 2

I'm so, so, so, so, sorry! I haven't posted in SO long, and I missed it, but a lot has been going on. My great-aunt adopted a kid that she decided should spend time with me so that she can get used to our psychotic family, my other aunt's about to adopt twins, I had to visit my mom's side of the family for Christmas and Thanksgiving as well as my dad's and my step-dad's families, my grandfather's cancer is getting worse so I visited him, I see my dad on Sundays, my cousin is planning on joining the army next year so I had to see him, I just got a new violin that I have to learn to play soon, I have to prepare for honors-band tryouts this year, I've had to work hard to make sure that I pulled my 92 in science up to a an A, and I just all around have a lot on my plate. I'm just in my early teens. Please try to understand. Anyway, enough of my whining. I tried to make this longer than the last one. I don't own Death Note, sadly. If I did, L wouldn't have died.

DAY TWO

Mello was the last to wake up the next day. It had taken him hours to fall asleep because he was nervous, and he was trying to think of ways he could possibly impress L with Near there. By the time he got downstairs, the other kids had already eaten breakfast, and L was sitting with Near and Matt on the small swing set outside.

It surprised him that Matt was with L considering he didn't know who he was, so he rushed through brushing his teeth and hair and getting dressed to go see what was going on. Near had his finger puppets on his hands when Mello got outside, and L was talking with Matt about something, the young red-headed boy's hands busy playing with his portable gaming system. He didn't seem very interested in L, but L seemed very interested in what he had to say.

"So does this Caira girl like him too?" L asked, head tilted. His hair was messy as always, and even though it was chilly out, his feet were bare. Matt smirked, thumbs moving quickly and eyes locked on the screen of his game.

"No, she's a stuck up little want-to-be princess. She doesn't even know Mello exists." It dawned on Mello that they were discussing his life, and his face immediately turned red.

"Matt, don't tell him that!" he called out , walking to them. L looked up at him with his large black and grey eyes that had sometimes scared Mello. He smiled that strange smile that no one could ever tell if it was genuine or forced and waved to Mello as if he had just noticed him.

Near looked up from his puppets and shifted back into the swing he was sitting in, not used to sitting on something that required sitting up and leaving his legs out of the seat. He didn't look up for very long before he became bored with his surroundings and returned to his conversations with himself and his puppets. Truthfully, this scared Mello a little too, but he pretended it was normal for boys Near's age to do this and returned his gaze to look at Matt and L.

"Ah, Mello," L greeted. "We've been waiting for you to get up. We're going to walk around town for a little while. I met your friend Matt while you were still asleep. He's been telling me about you." Mello could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"I-I noticed… Ryuzaki." The name didn't seem to suit L, but it was what Mello and Near had been told to call him in front of others. "Where are we going?"

"He said we're going to go to a bakery," Matt said, not bothering looking up from his game. "We're going to get some food. Ryuzaki said we didn't have any cake in the refrigerator, and he wants some. He didn't eat any breakfast this morning."

Now that Matt mentioned it, Mello noticed that L did look thinner than last time he'd seen him. He probably had been eating less sweets since he didn't have any cases to make him burn calories through solving them. L wasn't a glutton after all, he just used sweets as a way to make his life less bitter sometimes. He couldn't do that if he wasn't burning calories though because he'd gain weight, not that he didn't need to at the moment. He seemed to be at least seven pounds underweight.

L stood and stretched, hunching over as soon as he had straightened his back out. He rubbed his right eye and yawned quietly. Mello tensed when L looked at him.

"Well, let's go," he said, smiling weakly. He walked inside and came back out wearing a pair of sneakers, which Mello noticed were not worn over any socks. L looked at Near and watched as the smaller Thai boy climbed down from his swing and walked to them. Matt jumped down from the larger wooden swing he had been sharing with L and slipped his gaming system into his pocket to save the battery.

The four looked strange walking down the street. L was walking ahead, his messy black hair and pale skin sticking out among the other people. Near's hair also caught a few looks considering the fact that he was still a child and his hair was completely white, and Matt was also catching attention with his strange clothing choices and bright red hair. Mello seemed to be the only somewhat normal-looking person in their group.

"Here." The voice caught Mello off guard, and when he looked up, L, Near, and Matt were already heading inside a bakery. He ran after them and then paused inside. There was so much chocolate… L noticed his interest in the candy and put a hand on his shoulder, making his gaze return to the man.

"If you see anything that you really, really want, tell me. I'll get each of you one thing you want as long as it's not too expensive," he told the three of them. "Also, Mello, Matt, if you want to, you two can go off by yourselves in the bakery for a little while if you want to look around. Just stay together and meet Near and me back here by two. We'll be looking at the cakes to see if any of the strawberry cakes will catch our eye.

Mello smiled and nodded, not quite accustomed to being trusted to go off on his own. He liked that L trusted him enough to let him leave his sight like that. He looked at Matt, who didn't seem very interested in the cakes and pastries.

"The chocolate pastries look good," Mello muttered, picking up a package of chocolate covered creampuffs in the back of the bakery a few minutes later. Matt shrugged and sighed.

"I don't really like anything that doesn't require batteries… I knew you'd want chocolate though. I guess you can have my money Ryuzaki was going to spend on me too since this place doesn't have anything I want. I'm not that into sweets."

"Are you sure?" Mello asked, already holding the creampuffs close to him as if they were the most precious things he'd every seen. "I mean, you can still get something. Everybody likes food; hold onto the money. You might see something else you want."

"Mello," Matt huffed. "I said I don't want anything. Just pick something to go with the cream puffs, and I'll tell Ryuzaki that I want it. You know I don't have much of a sweet tooth. To tell the truth, all of this sugar is making me nauseous. My stomach hurts just thinking about all of it."

Mello smiled and picked up another package, this one full of coconut and chocolate covered pastries. Matt nodded and took them from him.

"Are you sure you want these?" he asked. Mello nodded, and Matt rolled his eyes, smirking. "Let's hurry up and meet up with Ryuzaki and Near so we can get out of here. The smell in here is getting to me. I swear, if we stay in here much longer, I'm going to see rainbows." Mello laughed and followed him to the front of the store where L was waiting with Near by his side and three strawberry cakes in his arms.

L stared at the pastries in Matt's arms. Mello could feel his insides twist when L looked from the pastries to him.

"Matt, I thought you said you didn't like coconut earlier," L said, leaning on one leg. "Are you sure that you want those? You also said you get sick just from eating a full chocolate bar." Mello cringed, knowing this was true. He wished Matt's mouth didn't run so quickly, but Matt seemed completely calm.

"Well, I want these for someone else. I have a friend that would like these," Matt replied, holding out the pastries. L smiled, and Mello could tell that he knew who they were really for. He didn't say anything as he paid for them though, taking Mello's creampuffs as well and handing them to the cashier.

"What handsome young men," the cashier observed. "Are they all yours?" she asked L. He shook his head and put a hand on Near's small shoulder, making himself laugh quietly.

"Oh, no, these are my younger brothers," he said, pulling Near a little closer as if the young boy would help him.

"Yes, our mother is sick right now, so our big brother took us out to get a few things that might make her feel better. I guess we have a bit of a sweet tooth," he said quietly, his hand trailing up to his hair and his fingers curling up in it by instinct. The woman melted and leaned forward so she was closer to him.

"How sweet… Well, you make sure to tell her to get well soon. Little boys need their mothers," she said, touching his cheek with one hand. Near didn't appear to react to this, and Mello knew that he didn't particularly agree with this statement. He was only acting to back up L's story.

Mello smiled when the woman handed him one of the bags. L did the same, but Matt just took his bag and reached into his pocket for his game. Near forced a smile when he was handed his bag. Mello caught L staring at the young woman as they left, and he knew what was on his mind. He was at the age where he noticed girls as well, but he knew L was different from a ten year old boy.

When they got back to the orphanage, L put the cakes in the kitchen and handed the chocolate pastries to Mello and a small cream coated pastry to Near, who took his without a word and walked away to continue building with his dice and dominoes.

They watched TV for a while and talked about what the boys' lives were like in the orphanage, comparing them to how L's was. Even Watari joined in, telling stories about when L was younger. Hours later, Matt had to be sent to bed, and Watari was busy rounding the other children together to go to bed.

"You know, if Matt wanted to give you his money, you could have told me," L told Mello later after the other children were in bed. During L's stay, Near and Mello were allowed to stay up later with him. "I don't care how much sugar you consume as long as it doesn't hurt you. You could have told me that Matt didn't want anything and agreed to give you his money for something extra."

"I'm sorry," Mello apologized, looking down. "Watari doesn't like for us to eat a lot of sugar." L smiled and walked upstairs.

"He worried about how much sugar I ate when I was a child too," he called over his shoulder. "Look how I turned out." Mello laughed slightly and headed upstairs to his own room. He knew Near would probably stay downstairs for a while to build, but he was too relieved to play or attempt to talk to him. He was just glad that L didn't seem to hate him or like Near too much more than him. Now all he had to do was find a way to impress him…

I actually had fun writing this chapter. It's fun to try to imagine how each character would feel in these situations depending on their different personalities. Poor Mello probably tried to impress L as a child and ended up hating Near in the end when he knew he had no chance. I really don't think Mello was a bad person as a child or adult. I think he was just sad, lonely, depressed, and jealous. That does things to you… Okay, well, tell me if you liked it. If you didn't, well then, you can leave some criticism, but please try not to be mean. Bye, thanks for reading!


	3. DAY 3

_I have finally been receiving reviews! Thank you so much if you left one! Those of you who like this, I'll be updating again soon. If you don't, stop reading this and do something you do like. Life's too short to sit around reading stories you don't enjoy._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, 'kay?! L wouldn't have died if I did!_

DAY THREE

Near sighed as he stood from his resting place in the chair in the corner of the game room in the orphanage. He had slept there with his city of dominoes and dice to finish the Great Wall of China. When he reached the dining hall, he wasn't surprised to see all of the other children eating without him, most of them with cake on their plates. Even Mello was already there. Near suspected he probably got up early in another sad attempt to impress L.

As much as Near really did care for Mello, which was not common for someone like Near, it annoyed him when Mello did this. It was such an undignified sight to see when Mello smiled extra or did extra "school" work while L was around. Near thought of L as his superior of course; he was a genius, but he never acted like this to impress him.

Instead, Near did as he normally did, which seemed to make L just as happy as Mello's little show did. He built things with dice and dominoes, looked at previous cases that had been solved by L to try to figure out how he solved them, and used his finger puppets to help him at times when he needed a visual aid. This was normal for him, and he was comfortable doing it. He clearly took no interest in pretending to be someone else for a whole summer while L visited.

His thoughts were interrupted when L walked up behind him, which didn't scare him, but it did surprise him-not that he'd show it. Near looked up at the detective, who was eating a piece of strawberry cream cake. Mello may not have known it, but Near knew that the reason L had gotten three cakes the size of the ones he picked out was because he planned on sharing them. After all, things did seem to get awkward when L was the only person eating sweets, so he always offered some to others.

"We still have some cake left over in the kitchen if you want any," L offered, his eyes not focused on anything in particular. "I know you don't really care for sweets, but you might like this." Near just shook his head and watched the other children.

"No," was all he answered with. He instead got a plate of toast and eggs with a glass of orange juice. He didn't wish to sit with the others, so he was allowed to sit on a bench in the front of the orphanage where the only sounds came from outside. Near wasn't shy, but he disliked all the noise the others made. He didn't particularly care for engaging in conversations with them either seeing as what they talked about was not interesting to him in the slightest. Most of the children didn't want to talk to him either though considering how "creepy" he was.

When Near finished his breakfast, he brought his plate back to the kitchen and set it in the sink. The other children weren't allowed to roam around as freely as Mello and Near. They weren't allowed into the kitchen, in the game room when it wasn't time yet, or outside unless an adult was with them. Near and Mello were trusted to do as they wished when they wanted to as long as they let Watari know when they were going outside and where they wanted to go.

Near spotted L in the corner of the kitchen, leaning against the wall with the remains of his cake on his plate. He finished off the small pieces left over and put the plate in the sink with Near's.

"Tell me," L began. "I know Mello is friends with Matt, but what about you…? Who are your friends here?" Near considered this question for a moment. He never really thought about having friends…

"I don't need any friends," he answered, running water over L's plate in the sink to remove the cake crumbs so they wouldn't stick to it. "People here my age are not interested in what I'm interested in. They enjoy TV and talking, while I prefer building and silence." L looked down at the boy as he turned off the faucet and dried his hands.

"As an adult, I should feel obligated to tell you that everyone needs friends, but that's not quite true. I didn't have any as a child either, so I guess I can't say anything without being hypocritical," L murmured, leaving the room.

Near followed him out. He hadn't expected L to have friends as a child either since L was a genius. Near had decided after years of living in the orphanage that geniuses didn't need friends because they had their minds and intelligence to keep them preoccupied. Friends would only get in the way of what really mattered and mess everything up.

He could hear the other children talking about him when he walked into the game room, where everyone else was already playing. He could hear the girls whispering about how creepy he was and the boys calling him a weirdo and a freak. This didn't hurt his feelings though. It amused him that people confused being different for being a freak.

Mello was leaning against the wall with Matt, watching him play a game on his portable gaming system. Near watched them for a second but quickly became bored with them and walked to his corner to build with his dominoes and dice. When he got there, they were all knocked down, and he could hear boys laughing and commenting about how he was reacting to it. Clearly, they had destroyed the structures to annoy Near for entertainment, but again, he was not offended, only amused by the ignorance of his piers.

He sat down and picked up each piece, placing it where it had been before and stacking them once more until he had finished Big Ben. After that, he moved on to rebuild the Eiffel Tower, which a few children stopped playing to watch. The room eventually went silent as the other orphans gathered around to watch him build the Great Wall of China. It was taking him a long time to build everything, but the watchers didn't seem to mind.

Even Matt was glancing up from his game to watch Near. This didn't amuse Near now. It annoyed him to be stared at by so many people when he was doing something he did every day. It was awkward, but he said nothing. He just added on to the wall.

After about an hour, the other children had to leave to have "class". Their class was more advanced than others since this was an orphanage for more intelligent children, but Near and Mello had to do harder work. Near stood once he finished the wall and a few other structures and left the empty room to do his school work.

By the time he finished building and working, it was already seven o'clock. The other children had already finished their lunch and dinner and were playing until it was time to go to bed. Near's lunch and dinner had been brought to him while he was working. Mello was done before him since he started hours earlier, and he was now with Matt, and Near was alone in the front room of the orphanage, looking out the window at the cars passing by.

Watari had never told Near and Mello about their parents, so Near couldn't help but wonder if his parents ever drove by the orphanage… He didn't want to meet them if they were still alive, and he didn't really care who they were, but it did interest him to picture them. Maybe his mother was a teenage mom whose boyfriend left when he found out she was pregnant, and she couldn't care for him. Maybe his parents loved him, but they were killed in a car accident… He shook his head.

He shouldn't be wondering about things like that. They didn't matter now. His parents didn't affect how he was now, so they didn't matter. There was no reason for him to think about them when there were so many better things he could think about instead.

"Near," he heard Mello call quietly. Near looked back at the blond boy in time to see him sit beside him on the bench. "Near, the others are already being sent to bed now. L said he has some presents for us since he wasn't here in time for Christmas, and it was only a few days ago."

Near nodded and stood with Mello, following him into the game room where L was waiting with two boxes. The first one was handed to Mello, then the next one to Near. Mello opened his more quickly than Near and laughed once he was done and saw a five pound block of chocolate inside the box.

The other box that was given to Near had two 1000 piece puzzles and a container of dominoes. Near liked his present, but he didn't smile. Emotions were things meant to be felt, not expressed for the world to see.

"Thank you," they said in unison, Mello's voice more excited than Near's. L nodded and handed a smaller box to Watari, who had just sat down after rounding up the children and getting them into bed.

Watari opened the box slowly and pulled out a golden pocket watch. The old man smiled at L and thanked him before standing and leaving to go to bed. L stood as well, told the boys good night, and left for his room.

"Mello, do you consider me a friend?" Near asked once the adults were gone, eyes looking over the puzzle pieces in their box. Mello was clearly caught off guard and paused, shrugging slightly.

"I-I guess… You're kind of a friend, but you're kind of a brother too since we grew up together… Why do you ask?" Mello looked at the shorter boy and watched him stand with his present in his arms.

"It doesn't matter. I was just asking because I was considering if I had any friends," he answered, leaving and walking to the game room to add the new dominoes to his collection in the form of a draw bridge. Did he really have any friends? The thought filled his head as he built.

"No," he decided. "Mello just considers me a friend. I have none. I need none…"

_Sudden ending! I love Near, so I had to write at least one chapter where he was the main character. Anyway, I hope this chapter was better than the last two because even though I enjoyed writing it, it took a while… Please RR; bye!_


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